Sexual health: NGO sensitises households in FCT IDPs camp
A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Stand With A Girl (SWAG), has kick-started a project called WELEAD in the Wassa Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in the FCT.
The project, which is being funded by HIVOS, is aimed at ensuring access and utilisation of quality Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) information and services for women and girls in IDP camps.
To actualise the objectives of the project, SWAG has trained 30 young women and girls in the camp as social mobilisers for house-to-house sensitisation and effective delivery of SRH messages to influence community members in taking ownership of the SRH and rights of women and girls in the camps.
In a chat with City & Crime at the camp, Miss Mercy Bolaji, Programme Coordinator of WELEAD, said the 30 social mobilisers were drawn from the community to, apart from sensitising households on SRH and rights of women and girls in the camps, enlighten them on Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
She further said that the mobilisers were also to enlighten the men on the rights of their women and girls, especially those bothering on SRH.
She disclosed that the NGO had another project tagged, “Stand With A Girl
Education Project”, which was championing “A Safe Space for Girls” where at least 15 out-ofschool girls were selected and mentored on vocational and communication skills.
Speaking on behalf of the social mobilisers, Aishatu Umar, promised that they would discharge their duty diligently so that all the households would benefit from the messages.
In one of the households visited, a mother of four, Hadiza Ali, thanked the organisers for the gesture, noting that such would help build sound families that would appreciate girl-child rights.
Our correspondent reports that there are 871 households in the camp, which the NGO divided into seven divisions for easy access.